Looking for a decent dslr

[Supernova190188]

I’m looking to buy the wife a good dslr camera, my budget would be perhaps around the £400 mark so not sure what’s good up to this range! Now I don’t really know an awful lot about cameras, I know she was looking at the canon eos2000 I think with Ef-s 18-55mm lens. Would this be a decent buy or any other well recommended cameras/lenses?
Thanks.

[Mr Pointy]

Does it have to be new? You can get fantastic value for money by buying secondhand kit.

[Supernova190188]

Preferably new as would be a Christmas present. But if I can find a very good condition second hand one with box etc then would consider it.

[LuS1fer]

Next day Deal have this but selling fast - NIKON D5600 DIGITAL SLR CAMERA + AF-P DX NIKKOR 18-55MM F/3.5-5.6G VR LENS KIT
£479.99

I had the 5300 and it's a great camera.

[SCEtoAUX]

Are you sure she wants a DSLR? They are bigger than compact cameras and that can often mean the difference between taking a camera with you, and not bothering.

There are some very good reasons for choosing a DSLR of course, and I honestly don't think you can buy a bad new DSLR these days. I only know about Nikon but even their cheapest model, the D3500 with a kit lens can deliver fantastic images in a lightweight and affordable package.

These days spending more money on a DSLR does not (usually) mean better images. What you pay for is some or all of the following: Better build, more physical controls, some features that you may never use, focus motor for older lenses, faster/better autofocus and things like better low light performance and higher frame rates.

Two tips from me:

1 - Shoot RAW files, which opens up a world of processing and image manipulation to deliver the best from your camera. Process in Adobe Lightroom. If this is of no interest, buy a compact and just use "auto" everything,

2 - Learn the holy trinity of ISO/aperture/shutter speed. What they do and how they work together. If you understand this completely, and have an eye for composition and lighting then great images await.

[Meeten-5dulx]

Buy a body used.
Better value for money.
Get her a 50mm 1.8 (if you get a Canon body) kit lenses are pretty poor....

[seanyfez]

Watch for the Amazon Black Friday deals.

Last year I managed to get a Sony A7 with 28-70mm for under £500, taking into account the Sony Cashback.

Great camera and I use it far more than my Nikon D800.

[Simpo Two]

SCEtoAUX said:

These days spending more money on a DSLR does not (usually) mean better images. What you pay for is some or all of the following: Better build, more physical controls, some features that you may never use, focus motor for older lenses, faster/better autofocus and things like better low light performance and higher frame rates.

And equally importantly the ability to attach pretty much any lens, or flashgun, or work with studio flash. A DSLR is the heart of a camera system.

SCEtoAUX said:

1 - Shoot RAW files, which opens up a world of processing and image manipulation to deliver the best from your camera. Process in Adobe Lightroom. If this is of no interest, buy a compact and just use "auto" everything

2 - Learn the holy trinity of ISO/aperture/shutter speed. What they do and how they work together. If you understand this completely, and have an eye for composition and lighting then great images await.

Wrong way round. Learn how to fly before you do aerobatics. JPG will be fine while she gets used to all the other stuff. And what suits one person doesn't necessarily suit another. For example I use RAW for serious stuff, but JPG for pictures of my cat is fine. I process RAW files with Capture One, and hate Lightroom. Fettling is done with Photoshop.

Definitely agree with [2] though, but put ISO last.

[FunkyNige]

SCEtoAUX said:

Are you sure she wants a DSLR? They are bigger than compact cameras and that can often mean the difference between taking a camera with you, and not bothering.

I think this is very important - has your wife specifically said she wants a dSLR? They're absolutely brilliant if you are going somewhere to take photos but if you are going somewhere and will take photos when you are there then they can be a bit cumbersome and heavy to take with you.
My wife has gone from dSLR to mirrorless (Sony a6400) and can't believe she used to lug her old SLR about!

[Supernova190188]

In the end I spent a bit more and picked up a second hand but immaculate canon eos80d with 18-135mm lens. Should certainly do for a while!

[SCEtoAUX]

Simpo Two said:

Wrong way round. Learn how to fly before you do aerobatics. JPG will be fine while she gets used to all the other stuff. And what suits one person doesn't necessarily suit another. For example I use RAW for serious stuff, but JPG for pictures of my cat is fine. I process RAW files with Capture One, and hate Lightroom. Fettling is done with Photoshop.

Definitely agree with [2] though, but put ISO last.

They weren't meant to be in order, but yes, the holy trinity should be the first thing to understand.

And again, I didn't list the holy trinity in order.

[ch37]

Certainly for my wife, actually taking the camera somewhere is by far the biggest issue. If I was buying one for her again I'd buy this in a heartbeat...

https://shop.olympus.eu/en_GB/promo.html?id=14980&...

A DSLR is now fairly antiquated for the iPhone generation, I'd say a mirrorless camera would have features that most people would come to expect now. The Olympus cameras can do things like this by literally selecting an option on the camera (this is the exact camera and lens in the link above):

New York Feb 2018 by Chris Harrison, on Flickr


Loads of cheap glass out there for Micro 4/3 too if ever going down that road.